Where is Kinect?

Windows 8 is a funny OS. Using it without a touch screen is tedious and clunky. But touch screens are a pain, I don't want one on my desk. I don't want to be that close to the screen, I don't want the fingerprints and smudges on my display. So that pretty much kills the Metro (Modern? Really?) interface.

But early on Microsoft demonstrated motion sensors using Kinect.

http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2012/01/kinect.jpg

With Kinect, the Metro interface can be controlled without a touch screen. The advantages are huge, use your existing display, no need to be right on top of the display, etc.

So, why has Microsoft failed to market this? This failure could literally kill Windows 8. Further, Apple has already stolen the technology and will release it in the next year with the industry and fan bois declaring it the most brilliant innovation of all time. Microsoft must market this now, or they may well cease to be a leader in operating systems.

maybe there is a range/sensitivity issue since it was designed to be used 6-10ft away in a large room and not 1-2ft from your face

the idea behind it is solid but they need to release a v2 with higher res cameras and a hardware based analyzer built in (the current kinect has a good bit of lag since it relies on software to analyze the raw data)

Good points and probably all true. Although the lag should be mitigated by the fact that the data is potentially analyzed by a computer that is several hundred times more powerful than the XBox, if you contrast an I7 to the old Xenon in the 360.